Community engagement in dissemination and implementation models: A narrative review

• Published in: Implementation research and practice Vol. 2; p. 2633489520985305
• Main Authors: Pinto, Rogério M, Park, Sunggeun (Ethan), Miles, Rashun, Ong, Pei Ni
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2021; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Review; narrative review; community-engaged research and practice; Dissemination and implementation models; community engagement; community change
• ISSN: 2633-4895; 2633-4895
• DOI: 10.1177/2633489520985305

Background: Responding to the growing demand for scientific understanding of adoption and uptake of evidence-based interventions (EBIs), numerous dissemination and implementation (“D&I”) models have been proposed in the extant literature. This review aimed to identify community-specific constructs with the potential to help researchers engage community partners in D&I studies or deploy EBIs. Methods: We identified 74 D&I models targeting community-level changes. We built on Tabak et al.’s narrative review that identified 51 D&I models published up to 2012 and identified 23 D&I models published between 2012 and 2020 from the Health Research & Practice website (16 models) and PubMed database (7 models). Three coders independently examined all 74 models looking for community-specific engagement constructs. Results: We identified five community engagement constructs: (1) Communication, (2) Partnership Exchange, (3) Community Capacity Building, (4) Leadership, and (5) Collaboration. Of the 74 models, 20% reflected all five constructs; 32%, four; 22%, three; 20%, two; and 5%, only one. Few models with strong community content have been introduced since 2009. Conclusion: This article bridges the community-engaged and D&I research literature by identifying community engagement constructs reflected in existing D&I models, targeting community-level changes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. Plain language summary Responding to the growing demand for scientific understanding of adoption and uptake of evidence-based interventions (EBIs), numerous dissemination and implementation (“D&I”) models have been proposed. This review aimed to identify community-specific constructs with the potential to help researchers engage community partners in D&I studies or deploy EBIs. We identified 74 D&I models targeting community-level changes, published between 2012 and 2020. Three coders independently examined all 74 models looking for community-specific engagement constructs. We identified five community engagement constructs: (1) Communication, (2) Partnership Exchange, (3) Community Capacity Building, (4) Leadership, and (5) Collaboration. Of the 74 models, 20% reflected all five constructs; 32%, four; 22%, three; 20%, two; and 5%, only one. This article identified community engagement constructs reflected in existing D&I models targeting community-level changes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.